Religion
In reply to the discussion: March 25 good news: 84 percent of the world population has faith........ [View all]Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)Familiar enough to know that Zinn spends much of his chapter on the Monroe Doctrine talking about interventions of the mid to late 19th century, after the Monroe Doctrine became inseparably intertwined with Manifest Destiny.
That this was not a wholly secular enterprise, as you mistakenly present it to be, is neither here nor there, because the fundamental issue with your argument still stands: it's tu quoque nonsense. I don't care if patriotism produces cruelty and intolerance at a rate similar to or exceeding that of religion. The sins of patriotism don't excuse the sins of religion, and in this religion forum we are in every way right to discuss the relative disadvantages of religion without constantly comparing it to other, similarly ludicrous secular modes of belief.
And no, I don't buy this "bad people will justify their badness with anything" routine. People aren't born bad. They are socialized, and in a religious society like ours, religion plays a huge role in socialization.